Year after year, a who’s-who of Philadelphia piles in at this simple lunch counter tucked away inside the vibrant Reading Terminal Market for some of the simplest food in the city. It’s places like these that make us realize how fantastically different Pennsylvania can be. That’s a good thing, btw (1200 Arch St.)

LA COLOMBE One of the best cafés in North America

The café arm of a top local roaster, this is pretty much just a high-ceilinged room with tables and chairs until the colorful crowd that sets up shop each day lends the joint its cozy atmosphere.

To keep them going, there’s an espresso-making apparatus the size of Lichtenstein. There’s now a small branch in TriBeCa, but we love the original more (130 S. 19th St.) CAPOGIRO The gelato experts

You can go to Italy and eat a lot of gelato these days and still not find the sort of quality and freshness that die-hards expect of this local institution, now with two convenient locations to serve you (119 S. 13th St.; 117 S. 20th St.).

REMEDY TEA BAR This ain’t Aunt Bea’s afternoon tea

Learn your rooibos from your lapsang souchong at this smart update on the trad tea shop. Adventurous girls will go for the Dirty Chai – the secret is chocolate (1628 Sansom Street).